Alsu Kurmasheva is an editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). She was detained last week in Russia. Her lawyer requested that she await trial outside of prison but that was rejected in court on Monday.

Alsu is a dual citizen of the United States and Russia. She is based in Prague. Last week her detention was extended for three days. With Monday’s ruling, her detention will last six more weeks, until December 5.

She is being charged with failing to register as a foreign agent. She is an editor for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir service. She returned to Russia for a family emergency. On June 2, her American and Russian passports were confiscated by airport officials. She was fined for failing to register her U.S. passport. She was waiting for her passports to be returned when the charge was filed against her last week. If convicted, she could receive a sentence up to 5 years in prison.

Russian state-run media accuses her of collecting information on Russian military activities. There is video footage of men in balaclavas taking Kurmasheva into an administrative building.

Her detention is called “spurious” by The Committee to Protect Journalists. It says her detention “is yet more proof that Russia is determined to stifle independent reporting.” Edgar Matevosyan, her lawyer, told the independent Russian media outlet SOTA Vision that she is not guilty and will appeal the charge.

It looks like Kurmasheva is caught between a testy relationship between her employer and the Russian government, as well as Putin’s war in Ukraine. Some analysts think that Russia is detaining US citizens to use as bargaining chips amid tensions over the Ukraine war.

RFE/RL was informed by Russia in 2017 to register as a foreign agent but it challenged Moscow’s use of foreign agent laws in the European Court of Human Rights. The organisation has been heavily fined by Russia.

Free speech – especially speech critical of Putin – is under attack in Russia. It’s likely that between her employer and her reporting, she became a target for detention.

Russia expanded its law on “foreign agents” in 2022 following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, signifying an intensifying crackdown on free speech and opposition under President Vladimir Putin. Now, not only individuals or organizations receiving funding from abroad are regarded as foreign agents but also anyone who has “received support and (or) is under foreign influence.”

Writing about the life of ethnic minorities in Russia’s Tatarstan and Bashkortostan regions, Kurmasheva is described by RFE/RL as an accomplished journalist, who reports on initiatives aimed at protecting and preserving the Tatar language and culture in the face of growing pressure from the Russian authorities.

She is the second American citizen, who is a journalist, to be detained since the start of the war in Ukraine. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has appeared in court a number of times since he was charged with espionage. He is still detained. He, his employer, and the U.S. government all say that Evan is innocent. He is not a spy but a journalist who was granted a permit to report in Russia.